Although today many take Malaysia's position on the path of development and its role as an emerging Asian power for granted, the promotion of Asia's position as an alternative to the Western interpretation of the international order and the simultaneous placement of this country in the Islamic world has analyzed Malaysia's transition from the crisis of rationality as an important issue. This article analyzes the position of Mahathir Mohamad's leadership in this Islamic country's movement towards development and attempts to explain this transition process by conceptualizing the strategic rationality of leadership.Therefore, this study raises the question of what role Mahathir Mohamad's leadership plays in Malaysia's transition from the crisis of rationality to strategic rationality. It explores the hypothesis that the development that occurred in Malaysia in the last few decades was due to the strategic rationality of Mahathir's leadership, which can be characterized by such indicators as the limited mind of leadership, political tragic thinking, trust-building, internationalization, prioritization of issues, law-abidingness, corruption-aversion, reliance on reality as a guiding light for policy, pragmatism, and future-oriented retrospection.The research method in this article is based on descriptive and content analysis of works related to Mahathir, using library-based data collection and an interpretive approach.